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In the BBC's forthcoming adaptations of King Lear, Sir Anthony Hopkins stars as a man driven mad by the breakdown of the father-daughter relationship.

Not so in real life. In a startling interview, Sir Anthony has coolly declared that he neither knows nor cares if his only child, Abigail, has made him a grandfather.

Abigail was the child of Sir Anthony’s first marriage, to Petronella Barker. He left the family when she was a toddler.

In the 1990s, father and daughter had a brief rapprochement and Sir Anthony arranged for Abigail, then an aspiring actress, to have cameos on two of his films, Shadowlands and The Remains of the Day. But now there is no contact.

Asked by Radio Times if he is a grandfather...

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